This application relates to a method of playing video poker games with multiple hands, and more particularly to a bad beat feature that is incorporated into video poker games with multiple hands so that the player may be awarded with a payout when the player starts with a plurality of good initial hands and fails to improve any of the hands.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,823,873 (Moody), the disclosure of which is incorporated herein, discloses multiple hand video poker games. In a three hand version of this game as disclosed in this patent, a player wagers on three hands. A first hand is dealt and the player selects which of the initially dealt cards, if any, the player wishes to hold. Each held card is duplicated or re-used in the other two hands. Replacement cards for the discarded cards are dealt into each of the three hands and the final poker hand rankings of each hand are determined. Using a pay table, the player is awarded for winning hand combinations based on the amount wagered by the player and the poker hand ranking of each final hand.
This patented method of play has been commercialized in many versions: TRIPLE PLAY(trademark) Poker, FIVE PLAY(trademark) Poker, TEN PLAY(trademark) Poker, FIFTY PLAY(trademark) Poker and HUNDRED PLAY(trademark) Poker have all been commercially successful games and can be played in many casinos throughout the United States and in other countries. During the play of these multiple hand games, a player may be dealt a good starting hand, say four cards to a flush. The player holds all four cards of the same suit and hopes that many of the hands will improve to a five card flush which would be a winning hand combination. The vagaries of mathematical probability being what they are, it is possible that none of the hands will improve to a five card flush and each final hand will end up being a non-winning card combination. This can be very disappointing to a player. If a player were playing TEN PLAY(trademark) Poker, FIFTY PLAY(trademark) Poker or even HUNDRED PLAY(trademark) Poker and was dealt a four card flush hand and failed to improve any of the hands to a five card flush, the player could reasonably be expected to feel he had suffered a xe2x80x9cbad beat.xe2x80x9d
Operators of live poker room gaming have used different types of inducements to encourage player participation. Besides free coffee and donuts, many operators also provide what is known as a xe2x80x9cbad beatxe2x80x9d jackpot. The operator makes a xe2x80x9cbad bet jackpotxe2x80x9d payment to a player who has an unusually high ranking poker hand, but loses the pot to another player with an even higher ranking poker hand.
The concept of a bad beat jackpot award appears to have had its genesis in casino poker rooms. Typically the operator of the poker room seeds a bad beat award at some beginning level amount, say $1,000.00. The bad beat award can remain as a fixed amount until won by a player or the bad beat award can be a progressive amount which increases each hour or day until won. The progressive bad beat award can also increase based on the amount of play occurring at the poker table. For example, a portion of the xe2x80x9crakexe2x80x9d generated during the live poker play can be used by the card room operator to increase the progressive amount of the bad beat award.
In order to win the bad beat award in the typical casino poker room, a player must have a high ranking poker hand, but lose the regular game pot to another player. For example, a player can be holding four-of a-kind (sixes) and lose the hand to another player holding four-of a-kind (tens). Even though the player holding Four Sixes may have lost the regular pot, the player wins the bad beat award which could be several thousand dollars. Often this bad beat award is divided among all of the players at the table, with the player holding the bad beat hand winning the major portion of the jackpot.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,102,400 (Scott et al.) discloses generally the concept of adding a bad beat award to other casino games such as keno, bingo, craps, electronic video poker and slot machines. With regard to electronic video poker, this patent discloses comparing the player""s final hand to a five card hand held by a dealer. If the player""s hand is at least a flush and the dealer has a better poker hand, then the player is awarded a bad beat payout.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a bad beat feature of multiple hand video poker games so that a player who has been dealt a good starting hand that fails to improve can still receive an award.
It is a feature of the present invention to provide a bad beat payout to a player who is playing a multiple hand game when the player fails to improve a good starting hand. For example, if the player is playing FIVE PLAY(trademark) Poker and is dealt a four card flush and the player holds all four cards of the same suit and achieves no flushes after the draw step, then the player is awarded a separate payout for this bad beat. A portion of each wager made by the player can be accumulated in a bad beat payout display which can increment until won by a player. Alternatively, a flat amount can be awarded each time the player suffers a bad beat.
It is an advantage of the present invention that the player will receive a payout when the player fails to improve a good starting hand in a multiple hand video poker game. The method of present invention rewards both an unlucky player who fails to improve his good starting hand and also awards a lucky player who improves one or more of his good starting hands. Another advantage of the present invention is that the hit frequency of the multiple hand video poker game is increased to make the game more appealing to the player.
Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from a consideration of the following detailed description.
The present invention comprises a method of incorporating a bad beat feature into a multiple hand video poker game. A player makes a wager to play a plurality of video poker hands. A first hand is dealt and the player selects which cards to hold, if any. Any held cards are duplicated or reused in the other poker hands and additional cards are dealt to each hand to complete the poker hands. The player is awarded a payout for each winning hand combination achieved based on the amount wagered by the player.
If the player holds cards comprising one of a preselected group of qualifying starting hands and none of these hands improve to a corresponding final hand, then the player receives a bad beat award, which may be either a flat amount or a progressive amount. This compensates the player for being unlucky in not improving any of his hands.